Public school teachers no longer have to resort to money-making activities to supplement their meager salaries if Cebu first district Rep. Eduardo Gullas has his way.
Gullas filed House Bill No. 316, “An Act Authorizing All Public School Teachers to Organize a Credit Cooperative in their respective schools” that aims to organize a credit cooperative in every public school to pool the teachers’ resources into a common fund for savings that will give emergency loans and capital for small-scale businesses.
According to Gullas, the bill is now being deliberated in the House Committee on Cooperatives Development.
Gullas said the bill will lift the economic status of public school teachers through income-generating activities and help them survive financial emergencies.
Gullas is the president of the University of the Visayas, while his brother, former representative Jose Gullas, was the one who authored the regionalization of payroll system for public school teachers.
As proposed in the House Bill No. 316, a cooperative shall be organized in every public school with at least 15 teachers designed to encourage thrift and savings, create a pool of savings which will grant loans to its members, provide related services to its members to maximize the benefits from such loans, and undertake activities under the provisions of RA 6939, or “The Cooperative Code of the Philippines.”
The Cooperative Development Authority shall help organize the credit cooperative for teachers in the public school within a city or municipality, and provide technical and other forms of assistance to enhance its viability. — Garry B. Lao/BRP